In Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., No. 10-1491, 2013 WL 1628935 (U.S. Apr. 17, 2013), the Supreme Court of the United States addressed the circuit split that arose following the 2010 decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., 621 F.3d 111 (2d Cir. 2010). As previously reported (see also blog articles here and here), the Second Circuit in Kiobel held that tort liability under the Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1350 (“ATS”), for violations of international law does not extend to corporations because corporate liability is not yet considered a norm of customary international law. The Ninth Circuit, District of Columbia Circuit, Seventh Circuit and Eleventh Circuit all reached the opposite conclusion. Although Kiobel was appealed to the Supreme Court on this narrow issue of corporate liability, the Supreme Court addressed the broader question of whether the ATS applies to conduct by anyone, whether individual or corporate, that occurs solely outside the United States. The Supreme Court held that the ATS does not apply to such foreign-only conduct. This decision confirms that, with rare exceptions, corporations cannot be held liable in federal courts for torts predicated on violations of international law that occur wholly in a foreign country.Continue Reading United States Supreme Court Decides Question of Corporate Liability Under Alien Tort Statute On Broader Grounds